Engine-starting apparatus.



E. A. HALBLBIB. lENGINE STARTING APPARATUS.

APPLIUATION FILED JULY 8. 19.10.

Patented 0013. 7, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 E. A. HALBLEIB.

ENGINE STARTING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION IILED JULY 8, 1910.

Patented Oct. 7, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

,UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.,

EDWARD A. HALBLEIB, 0F ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO NORTHEAST ELEC- TRIC COMPANY, 0F ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION.

`ENGINE-STARTING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 7, 1 913.

Application filed July 8, j1910. Serial No. 571,099.

To allen/mm, it may concer/1,.'

Be it known that I, EDWARD A. HAL- BLEIB, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ilngine-Starting Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus by which an internal-combustion engine, particularly one of the multi-cylinder type, may be started without cranking or the exertion of force on the part of the operator.

The principal object of the invention is to produce an apparatus, of the kind above referred to, which may be conveniently used in connection with the engine of an automobile, or with any power-system in which an electric generator is actuated bythe engine and employed to produce current for energizing the igniting devices of the engin-e, and for charging a storage-battery by which current may be supplied either to energize the igniting-devices, when the engine isirst started, or to supply current to electric lamps or other electrically-operated devices. In my novel starting apparatus I employ such an electric generator not only for the ordinary purposes above described, but also as an element of the` starting apparatus. the generator, in this connection, being caused to operate as an electric motor by means of current derived from the storage-battery, and the power so produced bv the generator being employed to operate means by Which one or more cylinders of the internal-combustion engine are charged with combustible mixture at suitable pressure, so that by a proper manipulation of the ignition-devices the engine may be started automatically from a condition 0f rest.

As incident-al to the general mode of operation just described I employ, further, an automatic device by Which the operation of the ignition-devices in starting the engine is automatically timed to occur when, but not before, the combustiblev mixture introduced, asvabove described, into the engine has attained a predetermined pressure sufficient to insure the starting of the engine when this mixture `is ignited. y

Other 'objects of the invent-ion, and the features of construction by which they are attained, will be set forth in connection y with the following description of the illustrated embodiment of the invention.

In the accompanying `drawings :Figure l is a longitudinal vertical section of parts of the mechanism of an engine-starting apparatus embodying` the present invention, the figure showing particularly the automatic clrcuit-closer by which the ignition is controlled, the pump and the mixingvalve, and the driving mechanism by which the generator, the. engine and the pump are inter-connected.` In this figure the pump is shown in section on the line 11-11 in Fig. 2; Fig. 2 is a detail-view of the pump and the mixing-valve, shown in section 0n the line l2-l2 in Fig. 1, looking froml left to right in the latter figure; Fig. 3 is a vertical sect-ion of the cylinder-head and the valve through which the combustible mixture is introduced into the cylinder; Fig. 4 is a sectional plan-view of the distributing-valve by which the combustible mixture is distributed to the engine-cylinders, the section being taken on the line 14-.14 in Fig. 5; Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the distributing-valve on the line 15--15 in Fig. 4, looking upward in-the latter figure; and Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating the entire arrangement of the electrical and mechanical Vportions of the starting apparatus.

My invention is illustrated as applied to a four cylinder, four cycle internal combustion engine of the type usually employed in connection with automobiles. The four cylinders of the engine are illustrated diagran'lmatically and designated as l, 2, 3 and 4, in the order in which the power-impulses succeed each other'in the several cylinders. An inlet-valve and an exhaust-valve and 6, respectively, anda spark-plug 7 are illustrated diagrammatically in the head of each cylinder, While the pistons are designatedby the reference-number 8.

The means for supplying Ithe combustible mixture to the cylinders during the normal operation o-f the engine are not illustrated, as they may be the ordinary means for this purpose, but the combustible mixture for starting the engine is introduced to the several cylinders through pipes 9, which are supplied through a distributing-valve' represented generallyI by l. the reference-number 10 in 6.l The valve has a rotary valvemember 16 which is rotated by connection loo with a moving part of the engine so as to properly time its operation and correlate the position of the valve With the positions occupied by the several pistons When the engine is at rest. For this -purpose the valve may be conveniently mounted upon the up-- per end of the half-time shaft 17 of the. en gine, this being the shaft usually employed to aetuate the electric timing and distributing devices. The combustible mixture is supplied t the distributing-valve through a supply-pipe 18 connected With the pump and the mixing-valve, which latter are indicated generally by the reference-munber 19 in Fig. (i. The pump is actuated by the electric device which operates normally as a generator, and the armature 20 of the generator is normally actuated, in the usual manner, by the engine, being connected therewith through a belt 21 and a pulley 22 on the engine-shaft. This pulley may be the fly-Wheel itself of the engine.

The diagram illustrates a storage-battery 23 and the three eld-Windings 24, 25 and 26 of the generator. The Winding 24 is a series-winding, While the Winding 25 is a shunt-Winding, the generator thus being of the compound-Wound type. The Winding 26 is arranged in series WithI the storagebattery and is Wound in the opposite direction from theswindings 24 and 25, thus constituting an opposition-Winding. This latter winding acts to limit the magnetization of the generator-field, and thus to limit the output of the current When the generato-r is acting to charge the storage-battery, and in this manner overcharging of the battery is prevented.

A return-current cut-out 27 is introduced in the connections between the generator and the storage-battery, so that normally, when the generator is stopped owing to the stopping of the engine, current from the storagebattery cannot return through the generator to operate the latter as a motor. struction of this cut-out is not illustrated, as such devices are Well known.

The motor is illustrated diagrammatically as provided with an ordinary form of jumpspark ignition, the spark-plugs being connected with four secondary terminals of a quadruple induction-coil 28. YThe four primary windings are controlled by the usual circuit-controller or timer indicated generally by the reference-number 29 in Fig. '6. The timer is connected in the usual manner as, for example, by a rod 30, with the lever 3l by which the operator controls the timing of the ignition, and in this manner the fixed contacts of the timer are partially rotated about the half-time shaft 17 so as to vary the time of engagement with the rotatingcontact 32.

In connection with the electrical apparatus above described, certain circuit-control- 'be described in so far as they are The con-l lers peculiar' to the present invention are' employed to govern the ignition during the starting of the engine. A circuit-controller 33, adapted to be actuated by the lower end of the rod 30, operates to interrupt the normal ignition-circuit when the engine is to be started, while a pressure-operated circuit- -closer affords an alternative path for the current at such time. A pole-changing switch 35 is connected With the armature and the series-Winding 24 of the electric device, to reverse the connections thereof with the storage-battery, so that when the electric device operates as a moto-r its direction of rotation shall be the same as when it is operated as a generator. The pole-changing' switch 35 is actuated by a' mechanical con nection With the circuit-controller 33.

The several parts of the apparatus diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 6 Will non novel and peculiar to the present invention. In Fig. 1 the end of the casing 36 of the generator is shown, the generator itself'not being particularly illustrated as it may be of any ordinary or suitable form. The armatureshaft 37 of the generator is provided With a sleeve 38 having left-hand threads thereon, while collars 39 and 40 are pinned to the shaft 37 at the ends of the threaded sleeve. The sleeve is integral with the collar 39 so as to turn with the shaft.

The generator is connected with the engine through a belt, as hereinbefore described, this belt passing over a pulley 41 which runs freely on an annular ball-bearing 42 mountedA on the bearing-boss of the generator-casing. The pulley is connected with a clutch-member provided With a circular series of teeth 43. A coperating clutch-member is mounted upon the motorshaft. This latter member comprises a nut 44 mounted to turn freely upon the threaded sleeve 38 and having clutch-teeth 45 adapted to coperate with the teeth 43. Springpressed friction-blocks 46 are mounted in radial recesses in the nut 44, and their outer ends engage the inner cylindrical surface of the pulley 41. On its outer face the nut 44 is provided with a second series of clutchteeth 47 which are adapted to coperate With teeth 48 on a clutch-member fixed to the inner end of the pump-shaft 49.

The pump is illustrated as a rotary pump of a well-known type. It has a rotary piston 50 which operates in a casing 51 rigidly connected with the -generator-casing. The inlet 52 to the pump (Fig- 2) is connected with a casing 53 in which is mounted a mixingvalve 54 by which combustible mixture is supplied to the pump. This valve is of a Well-known form, and it is supplied with air through an inlet-opening 55 and with gasolene, or other spirit, through an inlet-passage 56, which is fed through a .tube 57 Wave@ from a suitable source of supply. The flow f' gasoluue is Controlled by the 'usual needlevalve 58, to regulate' the proportions of the combustible mixture.

The driving-mechanism above described so operates that when the pulley 41 is rotated by the engine, which is the normal condtionof affairs when the engine is running, the generator-shaft is rotated `by the pu ley, While the pump remains idle. On the other hand, when the engine is not running and the pulley 41 is at rest, if the generator be operated as a motor, the pump is actuated thereby, while vthe pulley is disconnected from the shaft. These operations occur through the longitudinal movement of the nut 44 upon the threaded sleeve. When the ulley 41 rotates, the friction of the friction-blocks 46 acts to rotate the nut upon the sleeve, thereby moving it to the right and into engagement Wth'the clutchteeth 43 on the pulley. Through the action of these teeth, and through the engagement of the nut with the collar 42, 'the pulley is thus locked to the generator-shaft.. Qn the other hand, when the pulley 41 is still, if the generator-shaft v37 4rotate in the same direction as before by the motor-action of the electric device, the drag o f the frictionblocks 46 against the inner surface of the pulley tends to prevent rotation ofthe nut, While the sleeve 38 rotates until the nut has beenscrewed to the left into engage= ment with the collar 39 and the clutch-.teeth 48. Such enga ement locks the generatorshaft 37 and the pump-shaft 49 together and the pump is then driven so long as the pulley 41 remains stationary, or untilthe pulley attains a speed of rotation greater than that of the generator-shaft.

The construction of the pressure-operated circuit-closer 34 of Fig. 6 is illustrated in Fig. 1. Integral with the pumpcasing 51 is a diaphra In-cas'mg 6 0 inclosing a cor.`

rugated diapragm 61. This casing communicates, through an opening 6 2, with the pump-casing, so that the pressure in the diaphragm-chamber 4is always equal to that -at the outlet of the pump. The diaphragm engages an insulating button 6 3 fixed o-n a contact-spring 64, and the spring is mounted. ou an insulating late 66 (closing the end of ,the diaphragm-,matchen The Contactsprin 64 coperates with a fixed contact 6 w ich is mounted upon a screw 65 so that it may be adjusted toward and from the contact-spring. The tufo contacts are4 Connected with. binding-Posts 68 and 69, by which they are connected in ,circuit with the .other parts 0f 'the electric apparatus By means of the screw .65, the circuit-closer may be so adjusted as 'to operate' at any predetermined 'pressure in the 'diaphragm- Chambe und as this Pressure @Husbands with the Pfssllre of the 'combustible' mix:

ture introduced into the engine-cylinders. in starting the engine, the circuit-closer may thus be employed to operate the ignitlondevices automatically upon the attainment "and is inclosed Within a casing 7 5 having a conical seat to which the Valve is fitted. In the surface ofl the valve-seat the casing is provided With recesses or ports 76, each extending nearly 9()o around the valve and each communicating With one of the .pipes 9 leading to the several cylinders. A port 77 in the rotary valve-member extends to the upper part of the casing, which constitutes an inlet-chamber78 supplied With combustible mixture through the pipe 18. A conical screw 79, which is adjustable in the top of the valve-casing, maintains the Valvemember 16 in close engagement With its seat. When the engine is at rest the valvemember 16 occupies one of the four positions' analogous vto that illustrated in Fig. 4, in Which the valve-port 77 communicates with two of the ports 76, thus transmitting `combustible mixture from the pipe l8\to the two engine cylinders in'which the pistons are on the expansion and compressionstrokes, respectively.

The combustible mixture may be introduced into the engine-cylinders in any convenient Way, but in the preferred embodiment of my invention it is introduced through devices in which check-valves, to prevent the escape of gases from the enginecylinders-during their normal operation, are combined with the valves commonly employed and designated as priming-valves As shown inl Fig. 3, the ordinary primingllo enabled to introduce the combustible mix-4 v ture for' starting the engine through the same opening which is usually employed in connection with the, ordinary priming-valve, and thus alteration of the engine-cylinder vis entirely avoided.

I willl now describe the operation of the system as awhole. Any ordinary four-cylinder engine tends to come to rest, when stopped and disconnected from the drivlngmechanism of the vehicle, with all of .the l pistons about midway in the cylinders. This results from the fact that in twoo'f the cylinders-both the-inlet-valves and the exhaustvalves are closed and equal. volumes 0f gases are sustained in thse two cylinders, se that,

through the pressure of the gases, the pistons in these two cylinders tend to assume a position of equilibrium, that is, a position in which the gases in the two cylinders will have substantially equal pressures. When the engine is started from the position of rest one piston will be in position to finish an expansion-stroke already half-completed, a second piston will be in position to finish a compression-stroke, a third piston to finish a suction-stroke, and the fourth piston to finish an exhaust-stroke. In the diagram the pistons in these respective positions are designated as l, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. According to the-present invention the combustible mixture for starting the engine is introduced to those cylinders in which the pistons are on the expansion-stroke and the compression-stroke, namely, the cylinders l and 2 in the position of the parts illustrated in Fig. 6, for the reason that when so introduced two successive impulses may be produced in these two cylinders, which will be sufficient to carry the other two cylinders through a cycle of operations whereby the rotation of the engine may be continued and its normal operation initiated. This distribution of the combustible mixture to the proper cylinders is accomplished, as hereinbefore described, by the distributing-valve.

In connection with this operation it is alsol necessary to provide for the ignition, first, of the cylinder in which the piston is on the expansion-stroke; and, as this 'requires a position of the electricalv apparatus corresponding to a more retarded ignition than is employed in the normal running of the engine, provision is made for moving the timer to such position so that the appropriate contact may be made. After the engine has started to operate with all cylinders, however, the timing-device is returned, or allowed to return, to normal operating position. i

The normal position of the apparatus, whether or not the engine be running, is illustrated in Fig. 6. Supposing the engine to be running in this position, the several parts rotate in the direction indicated by the arrows. The electric device now acts as a generator. Current`froin the armature 2O fiows through a wire 80 to the upper arm of the pole-changing switch 35, and thence, through a wire 81, to the series field-winding 2-1 of the generator. After passingv through the latterthe current divides. A part of the current returnsthroughthe shunt field-winding 25 and through a wire 82, the lower` arm of the pole-changing switch, and

thence through wires 83 and 84 tothe other,

brush. Another part of the current passes from the series-winding 24 through a wire 97 to thev return-current cut-out and then through the storage-battery 23, from -which it returns througli a wire 91 andthe opposi-` being severally connected, through wires 89,`

with the several fixed contacts of the timer 29, so as to be successively in engagement with the rotating contact 32 of the timer. The current, after passing through the primary winding of such coil as may be in operation and through the contacts of the timer, is then conducted through the mechanical parts of the apparatus, which act in this respect as a ground for the current, and thus reaches thereturn-wire 82, which is sho-wn in Fig. 6 as grounded, for this purpose, at the point 90 on the pipe 18. Through the return-wire 82 the current returns to the armature 20, as hereinbefore described.

With the engine at rest and the parts in the position above described, suppose the operator desires to start the engine. In this case the ignition-lever 3l is moved downwardly from the normal position illustrated in Fig. 6 against the opposition of a spring 98, thereby swinging the timer in such a manner as to bring into engagement with the rotating contact 32 the fixed contact corresponding to the cylinder 1. The ignitionapparatus does no-t operate at this time, however, for the same movement of the ignition-lever operates the circuit-controller 33' as before described, thereby interrupting the direct connection between the wires 85 and 87 and closing the shunt-circuit through vthe contact 92 of the circuit-controller and through the pressure-actuated circuit-controller 34. The same movement of the circuit-controller 33 acts, however, to throw the electric device into operation as a motor. This it does by engagement of its contact-arm with a fixed contact 95 which is connected, through a wire 96, vwith the wire 97. By this connection a short-circuit is formed around the electric valve, so that current is now free to return from the storage-battery through a wire-85 and through the circuit-controller and the wire 96 to the wire 97 and thence through the field-windings and the armature of the motor. Atl the same time that the above-described operations are performed the pole-changing switch 35 is reversed in position, so that the current fiowing from the battery, as just described, passes through the armature of the electric device in such a direction as tocause the device to operate as a motor in the same direction of rotation in which it is actuated llt when operating as a generator. The electric device now a'ctuates the pump 19, thus forccontactA 92 of the circuit-controller 33, the` fixed contact l93 of the circuit-'controller 34, the movable contact of the latter, a wire 94, and the Wire 87. This current returns through one of the wires 89 and through the contacts of the timer, and thence to the battery by Way of the wire 82, the field-Winding 26 and the Wire 91. Upon the closing of the ignition-circuit, as just described, the sparkplug in the cylinder 1 is operated and a power-impulse occurs y in this cylinder.

yi-ifter a partial rotation produced by this power-impulse the charge in the cylinder 2 is ignited in turn, and the tWoimpulSes thus produced sufiice to start the engine in operation and to cause the cylinders 3 .and 4 to operate in their turn. Asy soon as the operator perceives that the engine 'has started,

he returns the ignition-lever to normal position, or he may release it and permit the ring- 98 toreturn it automatically, and

s tiie parts are then restored to the normal.

position illustrated in Fig. 6, the engine operating in the usual manner and actuating the electric device as a generator to supply the current for ignition and to recharge the stora e-battery.

It as heretofore been proposedto employ an electric device in connectien with an internal-combustion engine, this electric device operat-ing normally as a generator, but being used as a motor in order to start the engine. In such previously-preposedarrangements, however, the motor has been em loyed to actuate the engine mechani. k cal y, and thus throw it into operation, and

it has been found that where such an arrangement is employed in connection with the largestV and heaviest engines the consumption of battery-current is so great as to render the system unpractical and unsatisfactory. 'In the present arrangement, however, as the motor is used only to pump asmall amount of combustible mixture into the cylinders, very little power is required, and the consumption of battery-current is triiing. This is particularly the case as it has been found in practice that with an ordinary four-cylinder engine only aver few seconds are usually7 required to start t e op- For this reason the present invention may be employed in connection with the usual batteries, generators,

and other devices now employed lwith automobile engines, the only alterations necesrlhe operation of the electric'device in the same direction of rotation both as a generator and as a motor is avaluable feature of the arrangement hereinbefore described, as' it avoids any shock to the mechanism at the time when the starting operation has been completed and the engine begins to actuate the device as a generator. At this 'time there/occurs no change in its direction of rotation, and no substantial change in its speed of rotation.

Although I have illustrated the invention 4as applied to a four-cylinder, four-cycle engine, and as particularly useful in connec tion'with motor-vehicles, it will be understood that it is susceptible of various other' applications, and that it is not limited to the embodiment hereinbefore described and illustrated in they accompanying drawings, but may be embodied in various forms withinthe nature of the invention as it is defined in the following claims.

I claim l. The combination, with an internal-combustion engine, of an electric device adapted to operate either- 'as a generator or as a motor, said device being normally actuated by the-engine as a generator, a storage-battery conneeted'with and charged by the electric device, manually-operable means for connecting the battery withthe electric device to energize the latter and operate it as a mot-or Awhen the. engine isnot running, a charging pump adapted to be actuated by the electric device when so operating, andv connections between the pump and the engine cylinders whereby one or more cylinders maybe charged with combustible mixture to start the engine.

2. The combination, with an internal-combustion engine, of an electric device adapted to operate either as a generator or as a motor, a storage-battery connected with the rent from or deliver it to the latter, a pump for charging the engine with combustible mixture to start the engine, and mechanism connecting the engine, the pump and the electric device, said mechanism operating automatically, when the engine is running, to actuate the electric device but not the pump, and, when the engine is not running -and the lelectric device operates as a motor,

to actuate the pump but not the engine.

y 3. The combination, With a multi-cylinder electric device and adapted to receive cur-l tween the pump, the electric device and the i internal-combustion engine, of an electric device adapted to operate either as a generator or as a motor, a storage-battery connected with the electric` device and adapted either to receive current from or deliver it to said device, a pump for charging the engine to start it, connections between the pump, the electric device and the engine whereby the engine may actuate the electric device, or the electric device may actuate the pump, connections between the pump and a plurality of cylinders of the engine, and distributing' means operating automatically, in accordance with the position of the engine l parts, to control said connections between the pump and the cylinders so as to distribute the charge to the cylinders in which the E pistons are in proper position for starting.

4. The combination, with a multiecylinder internal-combustion engine, of an electric device adapted to operate either as a generator or as a motor, said device being normally actuated by the engine, a storage-battery connected with the electric device and adapted either to receive current from or deliver it to said device, a pump for charging g the engine to start the latter, connections beengine whereby the engine may actuate the electric device but not the pump. while the electric device may actuate the pump but not the engine, connections between the pump and a plurality of cylinders of the engine, and a valve actuated by the engine and controlling said connections to distribute the charge to the cylinders in which th-V pistons are in the compression or the expansionstroke.-

5. The combination, with a multi-cylinder internalcombustion engine, of an electric device adapted to operate either as a generator or as a motor, said device being normally actuated bv the engine, a storage-battery, connections between the storage-battery and the electric device including an automatic return-current cut-out arranged to permit current to flow thro-ugh the battery in a direction to charge the latter, a pump for charging the engine to start the latter, means for connecting the electric device with the pump to actuate the latter, and means under control of the operator for rendering said cut-out inoperative so as to per- Imit the battery to energize the electric device when the pump is to be operated.

6. The comb1nat1on,w1th an internal-combustion engine and its ignition apparatus, of

an electric device adapted to operate either as a generator or as a motor, said device being normally actuated by the engine as a generator, a storage-battery connected with and charged by the electric device, manually EDWARD A. HALBLEIB.

Witnesses FARNUM F. DoRsEY, D. GURNEE. 

